Where Technology Meets Art: Courses combining creativity and computers

By LISA BROWN, March 9, 2005 Bridgewater Bulletin

Technology is meeting art at a new business in Bridgewater. Starting during March Break, ArTech Studios is offering a range of courses and workshops in creative technologies. Students of all ages will have the opportunity to learn about animation, claymation, robotics and video game creation. “It’s a whole range of programs that use both the computer and creativity, so there will be hands-on elements in a lot of the courses and workshops,”explains director/owner Ronnie Scullion.

For example, participants in Claymation sessions will begin by making characters out of clay. Those characters will then be brought to life through a series of photographs on computer. “They build their characters and props and part of their stage set out of modelling clay. It’s clay that stays pliable and you can move the characters around,” Ms Scullion explains. “The characters can be positioned in different parts of the set, they can be moving their arms and legs around, and you would take a photograph of each different position. You put them all together and you end up with an animated film,” she adds.

With robotics, students first build their robots, then program them using the computer. It’s all about bringing the latest technology together with creativity to see what comes out of the mix. “I think we have a lot of technology avail-able, but it’s used in very limited ways,” Ms Scullion says.
There are a whole range of things that use both the computer and creativity, so there will be hands-on elements in a lot of the courses and workshops.”

“It’s to go beyond surfing the internet or just playing games. They’ll be creating their own games and have a greater understanding of how it all comes together.” During March Break ArTech Studios will offer first courses in robotics and video game creation, as well as shorter workshops on working with clay and simple machines. Those are introductions to courses in Claymation and robotics. ArTech Studios will be open year-round, offering programs after school, on evenings and on weekends. The evening sessions are designed for older youth and adults, while the after school and Saturday sessions are in-tended for younger participants. Depending on the course, children as young as six will be able to participate. Other sessions are geared for ages 10 and up.

In the summer, programming will expand to five days a week. Ms Scullion will be a familiar face to some students and parents, since she’s worked in a number of schools around the county in art and computer programs. She is an accomplished web designer, animator and art instructor who hopes this new venture will provide even greater learning opportunities for participants. “I wanted to bring it all together. Art and technology under one roof,” she says. More information on programs and schedules is available on their website.